Summer is almost over...

Yes, summer is coming to a close. I didn't seem to have enough time to do anything with this blog during those months. It was hot. This post will consist of photos of our recent months to get caught up because trying to type it all out would just be... silly.

There was a lot of swimming with the kiddos.






Lots of time with great friends...









A trip to Austin to see the girls...








Another trip to the Bahamas...










and a couple of trips out in the old motorhome...






I promise, I'll attempt to get more detailed as the fall begins to show up around here in these parts. I have quite a bit to do to the motorhome too, so I'll try and document that as we make progress.

A weekend at home...

We finally ended up spending a weekend at home...and it didn't rain. So the giant list of things to do was finally shortened just a bit. We accomplished a couple of not so difficult, yet certainly time consuming things.

Yard work was at the top of the list. Even though we are not done with all that needs to be done, I got a great jump on getting control of the weeds, flowerbeds and fire ants that have been causing havoc all winter long. That was almost an entire day of labor.

I was also able to finish the rocking bench I inherited from my parents a few years ago. It has been slowly dying in the front yard for the past year and a half or so, just begging for some time and effort to be spent on it. It seems to have been worth it.






Clearly on a roll, we decided to redo our back patio furniture. The table and chairs, being real solid wood were just too nice to think about replacing with something new and cheap. So we did what any good, self respecting do it yourselfer would do... we refinished them.

We bought some outdoor patio furniture cushions and CeeJay ripped them open and removed the foam padding inside them. Then I was able to slide the seat cushion from the chair inside the opening at the back of the new cushion and then simply staple it all in place. It worked far better than I had imagined and we now have chairs that are weather resistant instead of chairs that soak up every bit of water that falls on them. The table top was sanded and then given a new coat of poly stain. It looked so good I restained everything. It looks like a new set. I was very happy with the results.






During the patio furniture redeaux, we were also draining the pool and getting it ready for its upgrade to a salt water pool. I have been fighting a losing battle with algae all winter long. I am hoping this will help to reduce my problem!

After we had finished our long, exhausting weekend, we decided to start the cork table project which will most likely be continued tonight...






That is all for now. I hope to have plenty more as this summer begins to kick into full swing. It is going to be a busy one...

Happy Easter...

Tomorrow being Good Friday, I'll leave work today and not have to be back until April 5th. That is a really good feeling.

We will be spending Easter with our little, cobbled together family hunting Easter eggs and enjoying the absolutely AMAZING weather we have been blessed with. Of course, I will be taking new photos of the kids. I just can't pass up that opportunity.

The towbar for the Miata to BUS connection should be in at any time. We will be taking our first trip with the little toad in May. That will be an awesome time in the Texas hill country and I can't wait.

We will be visiting with our long lost Brice's as well. Then we turn around and go back to visit them in August in the BAHAMAS!!!

So, for now, everyone have a very happy Easter and enjoy this great spring weather.

~Wade

It has been a while...

I haven't updated this blog in a long time. I don't seem to have the free time I had at the end of last year when I decided to try and blog about our lives and our experiences.

However, now that spring has sprung and the travel bug is biting again, it is time to start getting things ready for the travel season.

But first, we'll start with the photo of the birthday girl on her first birthday.


































I took this past weekend to get the tow bar installed on the Miata. I was looking for a tow bar that wouldn't look horrible on the car once it was unhooked from the BUS. I got really lucky and found a great one manufactured by a guy right here in Houston. www.rennenmetal.com is where I bought it and this is what I ended up with.



































I added the red, racing tow eye for those times when I'll be taking it to the track.



We'll start with that for now. Maybe that will be enough motivation to get me updating this blog more regularly now.

Merry Christmas..

We start our traveling tomorrow. More time in the coach. We get to see if all that work we did over the past few weeks was worth it or not. I was able to finally, after 3 months, able to get the driver's side windshield wiper installed. I found the part I needed from a fantastic place. http://waltsrvsurplus.com/ Not only did they have the part available, they over-nighted it to me and I got it repaired before the trip. Just in case the weather turns foul.

From our family to yours... Merry Christmas.

Getting the rig road ready...

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon working on the old Dolphin while in storage. We have a pretty good trip planned for most of the Christmas / New Year's holiday. There will be a lot of driving involved.

So, in order to prepare and feel safe about actually making this trip, there were some things that needed to be taken care of.

My father in law, who is currently an unemployed mechanic was the perfect candidate to take with me out there. We loaded up his truck with the essentials we might need and headed off to storage to begin the transformation.

The Dolphin got her first oil change since the drive home from Idaho. I have been trying to find time to take care of this but had just been too busy. It is now done and I feel much better about driving her now. While we were at it, we did the oil and filter in the generator as well.

A couple of months ago, I had to do a pretty hard stop for a light while we were headed out of town. I learned a couple of things at that light. One, always go ahead and start slowing down for a light, even if it is green. Two, I don't care about pissing anyone off out there while I am driving. They are driving much smaller, lighter vehicles. If they are unhappy about having to slow down for a green light, they can go around. Three...if you have to stop like that, it pretty much ruins the brakes for the remainder of the trip. The past month driving it has been kinda scary.

So, that being said, we emptied out the old, black, nasty brake fluid and exchanged it for some nice, clean, new brake fluid. Then we bled all the wheels and hopefully fixed the problem that was created by the old stuff. They felt great yesterday while still in the parking lot. I am hoping that fixed the issue.

Then we moved on to what I was expecting to be the simplest repair of all. It ended up being the hardest and the most expensive. Go figure. The filler hose for the fuel tank had begun leaking on our way home from Idaho. During filling, gasoline would pour from the holes in the hose and spill all over the ground. Filling on the lowest setting would keep it from happening, but it added a LOT of minutes on to fill time. The hose was $35 PER FOOT and I needed the entire 3 foot length. Ouch. Muscling this thing into position was much more of chore than I had ever anticipated. Luckily, Paul was able to get under the coach and put his weight behind it to get it on. I would say we spent a good hour just doing that repair.

The final fix, while not in the order of how we actually did them, was more of a trivial repair since it wasn't safety related at all. We had noticed an exhaust leak before we bought the Dolphin. I knew it would eventually get on my nerves and I would have to fix it. That time had come. I bought a new exhaust manifold gasket and got settled in for what was going to be a major repair. However, as is RARELY the case for me, it turned out to be a leak in a much easier to repair location. The riser tube for the EGR valve had a nice cut in it and that is what was causing all the ruckus. Unfortunately, the new tube is an "order only" item so we ended up using some ingenuity and a bit of JB Weld to remedy the problem for the trip. We'll fix it properly when we get back home, but the order time on the part is seven days. Oh well.

So, all that being done, I think the old girl will be much more road worthy for the upcoming trip.

More photoshoots...

This past weekend netted me some additional work with my photography. I seem to have this love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes I love it and I get excited about possibly capturing something that I might really like...then there is all the stuff you have to do AFTER you release the shutter. I don't really like that part. So, I try my absolute very best to get the shot I want in camera, so I don't have to photoshop anything. I despise that part. The best part is going to different people's houses and trying to figure out what would be the optimal place to photograph them. I find that photographing people in their own comfort zone makes things turn out much more beautifully. That is why I love going to their homes.

So, that being said, I had four different shoots with four different locations last weekend. My beautiful wife, who is the best assistant ever, went along with me to help out with all the important stuff like posing and keeping the kids smiling. She is so awesome.

First was a maternity shoot for some great friends of ours. I've known Henry since he was about 12 years old. He is going to be a father now. Scary stuff. Man, getting old sucks.



If you so desire, the rest of this shoot can be seen HERE.

Then we moved on to do some shots of Serenna. I've personally known Serenna since she was about two years old. She is Henry's sister. She is quite the beautiful girl now. *sniffle*



Then we moved on to some family photos. I do enjoy Christmas card photos. They always turn out so elegant and everyone is always excited to do them. Well, almost everyone. I think the kids would still rather doing something else... This is a family friend. Sara, the blond on the left is a beautiful girl that I have taken photos of before. She was a LOT of fun to work with last time. I hope to do a shoot with her again sometime in the future. The previous shoot I did with her can be seen HERE.



More of these can be seen HERE.

Last but not at all least was the Nowaski family. This was an amazingly fun shoot mostly because of the kids involved. They were a LOT of fun to shoot with. It was pure chaos and I got some good stuff with them. This one was my favorite.



All the rest of these can be seen HERE.